A PLACE IN SPACE The history of Swiss participation in European space programmes 1960-1987

Small, neutral Switzerland was one of the driving forces in setting up the first Europe-wide space agency, the European Space Research Organisation (ESRO). Following that, Switzerland went on to become an active member of the European Space Agency (ESA). This book explains how and why Switzerland came to play such a role.
In doing so, it reveals that in the case of Switzerland, it was neither military nor scientific or industrial motives that primarily determined space policy but rather the country's foreign policy and will to participate in "non-political" European organisations. It also shows that the Swiss national system of innovation was challenged by "big technologies" such as space technology. Hence this book is an important contribution to both the history of foreign policy and of science and technology policy in Switzerland.

Stephan Zellmeyer was born in Solothurn (Switzerland) in 1977.
After high school, he studied Medieval and Modern History, Political Science and Business Economics at the Universities of Basel and Zurich. From 2003 to 2007, he was engaged in a PhD project on Swiss participation in space programmes at the University of Basel. In 2007, Stephan Zellmeyer's thesis was awarded the Henry E. Siegerist prize by the Swiss Society of the History of Medicine and Science.

SOMMAIRE

Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Foreword Introduction
I. Questions
II. Conceptual Framework
The Concept of Big Technology
National Systems of Innovation
The Concept of the Knowledge Society
III. The Status of Research, Sources and Literature
Sources
Research and Literature
IV. Outline

CHAPTER 1 - THE BEGINNINGS OF SWISS INVOLVEMENT IN EUROPEAN SPACE ACTIVITIES

I. The Origins of ESRO
The European Reactions to the Sputnik Launch
First Discussions about the Establishment of a European Organisation Dedicated to Space Research
Amaldi Meets Auger

II. Swiss Involvement in the Early Discussions on a European Space Research Organisation
Switzerland and the Amaldi/Auger Idea
Swiss Politics Enters into the Negotiations on the European Space Research Organisation

III. Swiss Foreign Policy in the Post-WWII Years

IV. Setting up ESRO
The Meyrin Conference
COPERS Activities
Switzerland and the Work of COPERS
Alliance-Building in Switzerland

V. The Case of ELDO

VI. The Federal State and Science, Technology and Economic Policy in the Early 1960s

III. Switzerland and ESRO's Science Programme
The Space Science Activities of Swiss Research Groups
The Swiss Discussions on the Funding of Space Research
The Role of the Swiss Science Council Space Science without Special Funding

V. Applications Satellites - the First Package Deal
The Advent of Applications Satellites
The Interim Intelsat Agreements
CETS Plans for European Communications Satellites
The EBU steps in
The "Comprehensive" Approach - the Causse Report
The Swiss Attitude towards Applications Satellites
Switzerland and the Launcher Question
The Bad Godesberg Conference
The First Package Deal
Swiss reactions to the First Package Deal
The Definitive Intelsat Agreements
Intelsat as a Turning Point for Swiss Space Policy
TABLE OF CONTENTS

VI. The Post-Apollo Programme and Ariane - the Second Package Deal 1
The Post-Apollo Programme
The Birth of the Ariane Project
The Second Package Deal
Switzerland and the Second Package Deal
The Ratification Process

VII. The Transition from ESRO to ESA
Developments at European Level
Ratifying the ESA Convention in Switzerland

CHAPTER 3 - SWISS PARTICIPATION IN ESA

I. The ESRO and ESA Science Programme of the 1970s
The Second Decade of European Space Science Activities
Giotto and Hipparcos - Two Major European Missions

II. Swiss Scientific Participation in the 1970s
The Space Science Situation in Switzerland in the Late 1960s
The Development of Swiss Space Science in the 1970s
Space Research and Swiss Science Policy

III. The Industrial Component of Swiss Space Activities in the 1970s

IV. From Development Phase to Operational Use - the Case of the Meteosat and Telecom Programmes
The User - a New Category of Actor in European Space Policy
The Meteosat Programme
The Swiss Meteorologists and the Meteosat Programme
The Telecom Programme
Switzerland and the Telecom Programme

V. The Discussions on a Swiss DBS System
The Tel-Sat Request
A DBS System and Swiss Media Policy
Handling the Tel-Sat Request

VI. ESA's Other Major Programmes - Ariane and Spacelab
The Ariane Programme
The Spacelab Programme

VII. The Microgravity and Remote Sensing Programmes

VIII. The Administration of Space Activities in Switzerland

IX. Setting the Stage for the European Space Policy of the 1990s
Switzerland and the ESA Ministerial Meetings of 1985 and 1987
Planning for the 1990s
The Swiss Influence on the Increase in the Science Programme Budget 308
ESA's Science Programme of the 1980s and the Horizon 2000 Programme
The Prodex Programme
Switzerland and the Decisions of the 1985
ESA Ministerial Meeting
Switzerland and the 1987 ESA Ministerial Meeting 321
Swiss Space Policy at the End of the 1980s
Epilogue
Conclusion

THE VARIOUS DIFFERENT STRANDS OF SWISS SPACE HISTORY

I. The Importance of Foreign Policy

II. Space Activities and Swiss Science, Technology and Industrial Policy
The Rhetorical Strategy
The Structural Weaknesses of the Swiss Federal
State in Science, Technology and Industrial Policy
The Comparison with the Case of Nuclear Technology